Fading rocker Marilyn Manson has to pay up after pulling the plug on his long-running defamation lawsuit against Evan Rachel Wood.
“Marilyn Manson — whose real name is Brian Warner — filed a lawsuit against Ms. Wood as a publicity stunt to try to undermine the credibility of his many accusers and revive his faltering career,” the Westworld star’s attorney Michael Kump told Deadline on Tuesday of the singer’s March 2022 action. “But his attempt to silence and intimidate Ms. Wood failed.”
“As the trial court correctly found, Warner’s claims were meritless,” the Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir LLP partner added. “Warner’s decision to finally abandon his lawsuit and pay Ms. Wood her full fee award of almost $327,000 only confirms as much.”
From court documents that Deadline has seen, the end of the suit and the agreement to pay Manson’s former longtime girlfriend’s legal fees was signed Monday by the self-declared Antichrist Superstar. Wood inked the agreement November 19.
Manson’s initial suit came a year after Wood took to social media in 2021 to slam her ex-fiancée for a pattern of “horrifically” abusing and “grooming” her during the duo’s 2007-2010 relationship. The now thirtysomething Wood was 19 when she and Manson became a couple.
Seven years ago, Wood told a congressional committee that she had been raped and repeatedly abused but did not name the alleged predator.
That all became clear when the two-part Phoenix Rising documentary on the singer and his supposed cycles of abuse and violence premiered at the virtual 2022 Sundance Film Festival. A couple months later, the Amy Berg film debuted on HBO, even after Manson tried to move legal heaven and earth to stop it.
The 2022 lawsuit against Wood was another prong in that attack.
Having seen his action essentially gutted in LA Superior Court in May 2023, Manson moved on to the appeals court. Yet, as that process played out, the rocker’s team indicated to Wood’s lawyers that they were open to a deal, I hear. After the expected back and forth, the parties found enough common ground to bury the hatchet.
In that vein, the full $327,000 is due to Wood and her reps via wire transfer two business days after the settlement deal is fully executed — which would be November 27 if all goes to plan. After that, Manson is required to file notices of settlement and a request for dismissal to the court of appeals, where the case currently resides.
Additionally, Manson is moving to terminate with prejudice his dust-up with Wood’s co-defendant Illma Gore. The latest actions should see this two-and-a-half-year matter from “The Dope Show” singer effectively done like dinner by early December.
Deadline reached out to Manson’s camp for comment on the settlement and the payment but have not had a response. If they do respond, this post will be updated.
